The way that retailers practically start putting up Christmas decorations and singing “Jingle Bells” the day after Labor Day is more than enough to convince most people that Christmas is the most important holiday of the year for Christians.
There’s even a war on Christmas, after all!
The truth is that Easter is the most important holiday of the year for Christians. It’s easy to mistake Christmas as the more important of the two, because of the mass marketing emphasis on it. Here’s a closer look at why Easter is really more significant and meaningful for us.
Easter vs. Christmas
Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. That is incredibly important, make no mistake about it! God chose to put on mortal flesh and walk among us to redeem the sin and death that entered the world when Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden. The birth of the long-awaited Messiah was one of the most important moments in human history. The second-most important, in fact, with the most important event being the resurrection, which we celebrate at Easter, this Sunday.
The resurrection is what it is all about for Christians. Jesus was hung on the cross and died, and was then buried in a tomb for three days. His resurrection — which He predicted would happen to His followers — proved that He was in fact the Son of God and His claims to divinity were true.
Think about it this way. Babies are born every single day. That’s pretty much the way humanity continues to stick around as a species. But only one person in human history has been dead for three days and then walked out of the tomb to walk around and talk to people. That was Jesus Christ.
He paid the penalty for the sins of His people and ensured through His resurrection that everyone who repents of their sin can be saved by grace, through faith in Him alone. His birth was a huge event, but his resurrection was the culmination of God’s plan and the long-awaited salvation of a sinful world. Easter is far more important than Christmas.
Why Does Christmas Get All the Emphasis?
There are two reasons why Christmas is easy to mistake as the most important holiday of the year. The first is marketing. Because Christmas has been packaged (pun intended) as a holiday that centers around gift-giving, it is now the most profitable time of year for many retailers. Americans buy extra stuff because in our sinful culture, it is a sign that you don’t love your family if you don’t buy them a brand-new big-screen TV every year (or whatever).
Because December 25th falls on a weekday most years, we all get the day off work. (Easter, on the other hand, always falls on a Sunday.) Due to the emphasis on Christmas, it’s a much bigger and easier target for the godless pagans running our culture to attack. No one gets to take Easter off work and there’s not a big marketing push around it, so there is no “War on Easter” like there is on Christmas.
The second reason why we mentally mistake Christmas as the most important holiday is because of our own sinful nature. A baby in a manger doesn’t threaten our worldview and for most people, does not cause them to examine their bad life choices. It’s much more difficult to think of a conquering prophet and king who defeated death, and before whom every knee will bow one day. That is a person to worry about!
A baby in a manger is sweet and harmless, while being judged by the God of the universe who will send you to Hell if you do not have Jesus Christ as your intercessor… well, that’s more difficult for most unbelievers to think about.
“These Are Just Pagan Holidays! Christians Shouldn’t Celebrate Christmas or Easter!”
Centuries ago, the calendar dates around Christmas and Easter were a celebration to false pagan gods. So occasionally, you’ll run into fuddy-duddies who claim that you are worshiping Thor or Ashtaroth if you celebrate Christmas or Easter.
While we still love these Christian brothers and sisters who think this way, they’re kind of missing a big point about these holidays. You didn’t really think that we were the first generation of Christians to go through a cultural war over our faith, did you? Earlier generations of Christians converted the dominant pagan cultures in northern Europe, and claimed and reformed these holidays for the glory of God. They won the culture war of their day. May God give us the strength to win ours as well, in His name!
Happy Easter!
~ Christian Patriot Daily
